Re: Writing conventions

Subject: Re: Writing conventions
From: Fred Sampson <wfreds -at- cruzio -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 10:45:43 -0700

Ellen Vanrenen quoted a style guide:

Keep your words, sentences and sections
short. The rule of thumb is 7 items per section. Anything longer is harder
for the reader to absorb. If your document runs much longer, consider
dividing it into logical segments

As has been noted, the seven-items-in-a-list rule derives from George Miller's research published in 1956. See http://www.well.com/user/smalin/miller.html for a reprint.

As has also been noted, the "rule" really applies to short-term memory of lists we have to carry in our heads; if it's written down, like a procedure in a book, we don't have to remember it all, do we? However, the rule remains useful to help us when chunking information. It's certainly not written in stone, and if your procedure requires more than seven steps without a break, I recommend breaking the rule.


Fred Sampson
Technical Writer
fred -at- fredsampson -dot- com


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